Ape Strength: Myth vs Reality

[johnny rex]

(12-12-2018, 01:00 AM)Shadow Wrote: Well, I decided to make one topic too mostly from curiosity about this matter. Gorillas are often mentioned to be very strong animals. I think, that there is no doubt about it, that they are strong. But even though I like gorillas a lot myself, with time I have become more and more skeptical about certain things. Often is said, that gorilla is pound to pound in top ten what comes to strong animals if insects are counted out. But to what that claim is based really? To hypotheses, estimations etc.... but what is really proven and does it has that reputation mostly because it is so close to humans and people would like to see it as almost a "superanimal".

Personally I don´t believe, that gorilla earns to be lifted to some pedestal to be pound to pound stronger than for instance a bear if there is nothing else, than some hypotheses, estimations and hopes. On the other hand if that can be proven and there are some concrete examples of proven and truly impressive cases where gorilla has shown exceptional strength, it would be nice to know. And here when I say exceptional, I mean compared to other strong animals, not compared to some "average Joe" sitting on couch.

Hopefully people who participate to this discussion (if any :) tolerate criticism and to be questioned too. For instance if someone writes, that gorillas are 20 times stronger than humans he/she can be sure to be questioned and asked to what such claim is based :)

And just in case, I do absolutely love gorillas and hope to them all good, but this issue just is interesting and seems to be a difficult one to find real information. I personally am not so interested about muscle fibres etc. but about real cases and information which aren´t just hypotheses or guesses.

There's no doubt that gorillas are strong, but I'm not sure whether their strength is really that comparable if compared to predatory animals such as bears, big cats, crocs, etc. Reply